Messages to congratulate Green Left's 1000th issue

Jock Palfreeman, Justice for Jock
Our relationship started out in 2002 when I was only 15. In Parramatta we met for the first time and I didn’t know what to make of you at first. I was shy but our relationship flourished and you became more than just a newspaper to me. You taught me more than just the weekly news.

You taught me that people are not as closed off as I first thought. That people were actually willing to debate in the streets both for better and for worse. But it was you who always started these debates and got people thinking. You polarised people and both united and divided.

One of the most important things you did was put me on the streets in peoples’ faces. In contact with people I otherwise would never have met or been able to discuss politics with. They were shop owners and workers and people on their way to work, or the local crazy neo-Nazi or Zionist. It’s possible you tried to kill me one time, as piles of back issues fell on me in the old Rez storeroom on Abercrombie Street, but I never took it personally. You were and are a call to action, no matter how mundane, no one has an excuse to do nothing as there’s always GLW’s to be distributed!

But one of the most important lessons you taught me is that no one pays the solidarity price (but I have heard legends).

From your comrade, Jock.

Jack Carnegie, Sydney
While the Sydney Morning Herald thinks it’s fine to give a column to pathological liar and war criminal, Peter Reith, Green Left Weekly delivers the real news on politics, the environment, social justice and lots more. Congratulations on reaching 1000 issues.

Tracy Sorensen, writer and filmmaker, Bathurst
Just a short note to say congratulations on reaching this milepost. I remember vividly the first time I saw Green Left. I was amazed at the vibrancy of the front cover and the diversity of articles inside it. For over 20 years, GLW has been the primary alternative news source in Australia, and I'm proud to have played a small part in the journey.

Dr Lynette Dumble, Medical, political and environmental scientist and founder and Director of the Global Sisterhood NetworkGreen Left Weekly is a never to be missed account of Australian and global issues which underpin human and environment-related violence, corruption and rights violations. An invaluable resource for those intent on creating a sustainable world which is freed from today’s prevailing injustices.

Mike Treen, National Director of Organising, Unite NZ/Aotearoa
I would like to join you in your celebration of 1000 issues. It is truly an extraordinary achievement for any socialist newspaper in the difficult conditions faced by the labour movement internationally over the past two decades.

But it is not just the technical challenges in that feat that have been overcome. I once worked on a similar newspaper in New Zealand and am acutely aware of the daily grind associated with meeting deadlines and organising the publication and distribution of a paper with the absolute minimum of resources.

But what you have achieved is above all political. You have remained the pre-eminent voice of a radical, left, green and working class alternative in your country week after week for two decades. I have not always agreed with your judgements. You have made mistakes, at least in my opinion, but as one part of the saying goes "to err is human". What you have also done is to give voice to the myriad of movements against injustice and oppression in your country as they have developed with all their varieties without trying to force them into pre-conceived schemas. Similarly you have reached out to to revolutionary fighters world wide who have proved in action their determination to end capitalist exploitation and oppression regardless of whether they had their origin in a different political tradition than your own. The political dialogue reflected in Green Left WeeklyGLW is making an important contribution to bringing their rule to an end and I wish you even greater success in the tears ahead.

John Riddell and Suzanne Weiss, socialist and climate activists, Toronto
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly on its 1000th issue! GLW continues now as ever to be a beacon and inspiration to socialists in every part of the world. We in Canada particularly appreciate GLW's leadership on the interlinked questions of world climate justice and solidarity with socialist movements in Venezuela and the other countries of the ALBA alliance. We wish GLW all success in the coming years!

Malik Miah, US socialist and an editor of Against The Current magazine
I've been a supporter and reader of Green Left Weekly since its very first issue. GLW has served as voice of resistance and clarity on issues of great interest to working people around the world. The articles on the oppressed Aboriginal peoples and the uprisings against corrupt regimes and elites have been outstanding. Onward to the next 1000 issues!

Aunty Barbara Williams, Save the Koori school site campaign
I appreciate the support from Green Left Weekly for the Ballerrt Mooroop College campaign. It lets me know things that other papers don't. It lets me know the truth.

Sue Bolton, Moreland councillor and Socialist Alliance national executive member
I remember when Green Left Weekly first came out, during the first Gulf War in 1991. GLW provided the information needed by activists and anyone who was suspicious about the motives of the imperialist countries waging war on Iraq. The wealthy elite uses secrecy and misinformation to win popular support for their military invasions and anti-working class policies. GLW helps expose the lies and the misinformation so that people have the information they need to get active to change society. I hope GLW keeps going for thousands more issues.

Karl Hand, pastor Crave Metropolitan Community Church
There's only one Australian newspaper I know of that has the courage to tell the truth about power, the integrity to report without fear or favour, and the determination to stand the test of time. As a Christian minister and a social activist, Green Left Weekly has consistently given me the information I need to be informed and educated about our society from the perspective of ordinary people, and with a bias towards justice. Keep up the great work!

Kate Boyd, Armidale anti-CSG mining campaigner
Wow – that is a lot of issues of an excellent little paper. My congratulations to all who have contributed to the achievement. I don’t buy it very often because I have too much else to read in paper and electronic form but it is the only newspaper I ever buy. Love and Peace!

Farooq Tariq, General Secretary Awami Workers Party
This is a great occasion. Not many Left papers publish their 1000 issue. Green Left Weekly staff, Socialist Alliance Australia and all those comrades taking the time to sell and contribute money to this paper must be congratulated on this special occasion.

GLW is a unique paper. It has a unique name and content. It brings news and views from different Left perspectives. It is not a sectarian paper promoting one set of thinking.

For me and for several other comrades in Pakistan, GLW has become a part of our regular reading. It is a breath of fresh air in a polluted world.

The Awami Workers Party expresses its full solidarity and comradeship with all those producing the paper, selling it and contributing to make it possible to be published regularly.

Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth Australia
Congratulations to everyone at Green Left Weekly on reaching this incredible milestone. Community funded media can be hard to sustain, and the fact that Green Left has kept up production week on week and year on year is a testament to the remarkable staying power of its staff, volunteers, writers and contributors.

With the direction being taken by federal and state governments and the Abbott cheer squad function that is filled by some in the mainstream media, we need progressive and incisive voices in the public debate like never before.

All the best for another 1,000 issues.

Cathy Peters, journalist, Palestine solidarity activist and former Greens councillor in MarrickvilleGreen Left Weekly is a beacon in the bleak Australian media landscape offering regular coverage of key issues in communities right throughout Australia and the world and significantly, in regions and countries that the mainstream 24-hour sensationalist news services never cover.

GLW's 1000 issues of hard-hitting reports and informed coverage of politics, environment and human rights is outstanding and represents many years hard work by many committed activists. Congratulations and long may you continue to publish.

Graham Brown, climate activist, trade unionist and former coalminer
I was made conscious of the world-wide reach of Green Left when I saw a Spanish translation on sale at the Bridge of Martyrs in Caracas while with the first Venezuelan Solidarity Brigade organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network and supported by>Green Left. And over the years the support from Green Left to many people in the world is still going strong. Congratulations Green Left Weekly on the 1000th edition milestone and the many more editions to come.

Brian Senewiratne, physician and human rights activist
It is my pleasure to commend the outstanding work done by Green Left to which I have been an occasional contributor.

At a time when we have nothing but arrant nonsense and irrelevancies coming from the mainstream media, Green Left is the light that shines in the darkness of a despicable deplorable press. The capitalist media could not care less as to what happens in the world we live in, and to highlight the outrages, especially in human rights which should be of concern to decent human beings who are being starved of the necessary information. It is in this area of saying what has to be said without fear or favour, that Green Left has played such a crucial role. Struggling with a lack of funds, the publication has done an unbelievable job to reach out to Australians and others. It has given me enormous joy when people in Canada, the US and Europe have commended me for articles I have written. When I have asked them “Where did you read that?” the answer has been “In Green Left”.

So also the talk I gave in Perth on the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka – a source country for so many of our asylums seekers and refugees, fleeing the murderous regime in Sri Lanka. When people have commended me for this presentation, I have asked them, “How come you have seen this presentation?” The answer has been “It is on the net under Green Left”.

I might add that the major political parties in Australia, be it Labor or the Liberal-National Coalition are in bed with those who run the Totalitarian State in Sri Lanka and despotic regimes elsewhere. Changing one political party for another is of little use. The horse keeps going in the same direction, only the rider has changed. It is only the Greens and the Left that have presented morally acceptable policies.

It is a matter of great regret that because of work commitments as a doctor, I cannot write the sort of article I should be writing in the Green Left. Hopefully it is a problem that I will be able to address.

In commending this publication in the strongest possible terms, I appeal to Australians to donate whatever money they can, to keep this outstanding paper in circulation and to extend its reach since unlike the capitalist press, there are no millionaires or big business backing this paper. It relies on ordinary decent Australians for the necessary funds. I urge you to support it, not just in words but in deeds – the deed being to send a subscription to a paper that is worth reading.

Bob Briton, General Secretary Communist Party of Australia
Congratulations to everybody involved with the production and distribution of the Green Left Weekly. A thousand issues is quite a milestone in these days of corporate media saturation. GLW is and a prominent source of alternative news and views for readers concerned about the political direction Australia (and the planet) is heading. Sometimes we underestimate the impact of newspapers like GLW and the Communist Party's weekly Guardian. We need to reach more readers and present the realities of workers' struggles in the workplace, against imperialist aggression, for justice for Aboriginal people and other oppressed minorities, to provide help for refugees and for environmental sanity. But sometimes we need to celebrate our achievements and our persistence. Once again, congratulations Green Left Weekly.

David Rovics, US songwriter
In these times when newspapers of all kinds are going out of business all over the world, the need for independent sources of news and information is needed now more than ever. Green Left Weekly has been one great paper filling that void for a long time now, giving voice to issues and perspectives that the corporate press consistently either ignores or ridicules. From a cultural perspective, long before MP3's existed, before anyone in Australia might have heard of the music of people like, say, me, GLW was the only publication that I know of that mentioned my existence, or the existence of my recordings, which they consistently reviewed every time a new one came out, long before I ever even made it to the country! The 1,000th issue is a milestone well worth celebrating. May there be thousands more.

Josie Evans, anti-Coal Seam Gas activist
Dear Green Left Weekly, congratulations on your 1000th issue. Your paper is a source for people to find out the struggles occurring in this country and overseas and it also a channel for further involvement.

Tim Gooden, Secretary of Geelong Trades Hall
Congratulations to all the team of Green Left Weekly for reaching a wonderful mile-stone of 1000 papers. That’s about 35,000 pages of information, debates and campaign material since the first Gulf War. An invaluable resource for workers both here in Australia and internationally. I’ve been selling GLW on the streets and workplace every week for nearly 20 years and I’d have to say it has been the best experience ever. To discuss politics with workers about how we can shape our future is the most important contribution to humanity there is. GLW plays a critical part in bringing about change and shaping our future.

Brendan Murphy, Geelong CFMEU organiser
Well done to Green Left for covering all the industrial disputes in Australia from a unionist and workers perspective. It is important that the facts are reported. The main media have a lot of other interest at heart and it’s usually not in the workers interest. I imagine it is hard going getting a paper out every week for so long but without it workers would be more in the dark. Educated workers are our strength and the boss’s weakness. Dare to struggle, dare to win.

Ray Jackson, Indigenous Social Justice Association
The 1000th issue of Green Left Weekly is indeed a matter for much congratulations to all those who produce it.

That each and every issue reflects the struggles of Aborigines in this country, as well as other first nations peoples worldwide, is a credit to the solidarity shown to the struggle of these groups for their human rights and justice. These struggles are rarely, if ever, given in the mainstream press and that fact clearly highlights the importance of your most supportive and insightful newspaper.

May the future issues be multiplied by many more thousands!

Joe Carolan, Unite organiser and Socialist Aotearoa memberGreen Left Weekly is a huge resource for socialists and unionists, not only in Australia, but also for its international coverage of workers struggles as well. When our Unite Union McDonalds workers faced police repression on their McStrike picket lines last year, Green Left helped get their message out to an international audience. That's what workers need nowadays — a media that is on our side, that's digital and savvy, that is not afraid to take on the corporations. Let's see a thousand more!

Jim McIlroy, socialist activist and former CPSU delegate
Best wishes and congratulations to Green Left Weekly for its 1000th issue coming up. This event represents a milestone in the history of left publications in Australia.

Having been closely involved with the socialist press, going back to the old Direct Action from the early 1970s, I regard GLW as a culmination of decades of struggle to create a quality socialist alternative voice, as well as an essential vehicle for helping to build the Socialist Alliance as a key organisation for working people and the oppressed in this country.

In particular, I would like to congratulate the hard-working editorial and production staff of GLW, as well as those who sell the paper in the streets and communities every week. Without their professionalism and dedication, GLW could not come out and could not be distributed.

GLW plays a crucial role in getting out the real news about people's revolutions that are happening right now, such as in Venezuela today under the leadership of the Bolivarian socialist movement, as well as the truth about political struggles in many parts of the world. It also informs the Australian people about the reality of the class struggle in this country, as well as helping to build the people's movements here.

Once again, congratulations on the 1000th, with many more to come.

Jim Knight, Grafton
Congratulations and best wishes for the future from a ninety-one old year peace activist from before WWII (in which I was an enlisted army member for nearly five years). Keep up the fight for socialism, peace and a better world.

Dick Nichols, Green Left Weekly's European correspondent
We wake up, turn on the radio or TV, and it starts… the day’s drip-drip-drip of distortions, omissions and downright lies. It's the “news” as they see it and want us to see it.

Day after day, week after week this goes on — the relentless routine of manufacturing “normality” and “consent” through keeping us in a twilight of partial information (or completely in the dark).

This poison would quickly fill our whole bloodstream if there weren’t antidotes at hand. Green Left Weekly is one of those, and a powerful one. In Australia it is doing the work that papers like L’Humanité and Il Manifesto do in France and Italy.

All who have battled to keep Green Left going since its founding in 1991 — journalists trying to find the right word, editors stressing about midnight deadlines, layout artists toiling with crashing computers and sellers freezing on windy corners — should feel very proud that the paper has reached its 1000th issue.

It’s also a good moment to remember that there’s no better tribute than that of our enemies. When conservative MPs are reaching for the worst possible thing they can possibly say against a parliamentary opponent, they now yell: “Where d’ya read that, idiot? In Green Left Weekly?”

Forward to the next 1000 issues!

Daniel Lang
It's reassuring to me that a publication like Green Left Weekly can stand as a genuine bastion for journalistic integrity and as a societal moral compass. 1000 issues after it started with the noblest of intentions, it's also satisfying to know that it hasn't wavered from its commitment to these principles. I cannot recommend reading GLW any more highly to anyone in Australia with a shred of interest in the genuine ecological and political machinations our society faces, particularly under the current government regime when it is needed more than ever.

Keep it up!!

Barry Sheppard, who writes the 'Letter From The US' column in Green Left Weekly
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly on reaching 1000!

I have found over the years that GLW and its predecessor publications to be an indispensable source of news and analysis from a Marxist point of view of politics in Australia and around the world.

I'm proud to have been a small part of the paper, contributing articles mainly about the United States.

On to 2000!

Janet Grogan FOODwatch/GM-Free WA
It is with grateful thanks that we congratulate the Green Left Weekly on their 1000th issue. The prevalence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has been allowed to expand invisibly. It is an industry shrouded in secrecy, seemingly aided and abetted by mainstream media which either ignores the real issues or chooses to deliver industry-generated misinformation. GLW has stood out in their approach to this issue taking the stance of exposing the truth behind this global attempt to take over our food supply and seed sovereignty. Their reporting of both local and global opposition has been unparalleled and we are grateful for their continued support.

Irene Doutney, Greens Councillor City of Sydney
Warm congratulations to the team, past and present, at Green Left Weekly for making this important milestone. 1000 issues of courageous reporting, exposing the hidden agendas of the rich and powerful is a wonderful achievement.

The paper’s longevity is testament to the enduring values of social and environmental justice that inspire its writers and contributors. In the age of advanced consumer capitalism there remains a hunger for a more equal and meaningful world which has been elegantly articulated by this publication. GLW’s editorial policy of seeking contributions from a broad range of people has brought many new voices to the public policy debate both globally and in Australia.

Congratulations again on your valuable work!

Jamie Parker NSW Greens MLA for Balmain
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly on reaching such an impressive achievement. With increasingly concentrated media ownership in Australia, it’s crucial to support independent voices and a more diverse media landscape. Good luck for the next 1000 issues!

Zane Alcorn, Newcastle community activistGreen Left Weekly never fails to represent good value. It can be a dense and broad ranging paper and often I will just read a few articles if I am busy but even then I will be politically nourished for another week. The coverage of trade union, civil liberties, international solidarity, LGBTI rights, aboriginal solidarity, climate, enviro, anti-war, and even radical music, books, art and comedy from around Australia and across the globe is second to none.

Fidel Castro once famously stated "history will absolve me". I believe history's page will also recognise and respect the extent to which GLW called a spade a spade as the window for preventing catastrophic warming closed. Here is a publication which steadfastly rejects incrementalism and restates the urgent need to expropriate the fossil fuel fired means of production poste haste and engage in a massive decarbonisation project driven by public investment and steered by people power.

If we do stop capitalism ruining this planet for every future generation of worker, it will be by the narrowest of margins. I am sure GLW will be as instrumental as ever in providing political leadership and facilitating important debates and networking as the class struggle comes to a head and revolution comes within our reach – and indeed even after this, as the workers grapple with the challenges of running society and fighting bureaucracy and counter-revolution.

Great volumes of kudos must also be paid on this occasion to the editorial and distribution team (past, present and future) of this grassroots working class tribune. For 23 years these people have made quite substantial sacrifices, and poured much blood, sweat and tears into the keyboards and and out trays and expired subscribers lists to keep GLW appearing at rallies and on campuses and in trade union meeting rooms and on kitchen tables. I respect you people immensely.

Keep on keeping it real Green Left. You fucking rock.

Howard Byrnes, CFMEU NSW state councillor and delegate
In my work as a union delegate, I have found Green Left Weekly to be an invaluable tool for keeping workers informed and up to date on industrial challenges and issues. The corporate media clouds and distorts the facts while GLW cuts through the BS. Congratulations to all the hardworking people who keep GLW on the streets and in our community.

Pip Hinman, Sydney activist and former Green Left Weekly editorGreen Left Weekly's mission, since 1991, has been to strengthen dialogue and unity in action between the ecological and social justice movements. It was a brave step for the times when those movements were suspicious of each other.

Twenty three years later, GLW is the most respected left-wing weekly newspaper in Australia. Much of this is due to the massive amount of support from all over: activist journalists, photographers, serial donors and committed sellers.

GLW has helped strengthen the "red", "green" and "rainbow" movements. It's also played a small, but nonetheless significant, role in helping convince another generation that another world is possible and that joining the struggle is essential.

All power to those keeping GLW powering along today, and here's to another 1000 issues!

Melbourne Feminist Action
It is a time to be concerned in Australia – for women trying to access abortion, for the financial wellbeing of sole parents, for the welfare of refugees imprisoned in internment camps, for Indigenous rights, and on and on it goes. At 1000 issues and counting, Green Left Weekly still gives space to these voices and campaigns so-often ignored in this country. It is one of the vertebrae of the Australian Left: reporting on the wrongs in this broken system, and allowing activist-readers to share ideas and grow grassroots movements.

Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist and author
I congratulate Green Left Weekly on this important milestone. At a time when the corporate media is virtually indistinguishable from government and business PR, we need a strong and independent voice offering the real world, from Palestine to Venezuela and inside Australia's detention centres to Afghanistan. GLW offers an alternative point of view that actually speaks for the mainstream globally. Here's to at least 1000 more editions.

Michael Lebowitz, professor emeritus of economics at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, and program coordinator with Centro International Miranda, Venezuela
Congratulations to all the comrades who have put Green Left Weekly out and all who have sold it – your 1000 issues definitely trumps anything comparable elsewhere and at the same proves to all who are organising that it can be done.

Paul Kellogg, Alberta, Canada
One thousand issues! Congrats to the folks at Green Left Weekly. I know how much work it is to put out a publication on a regular basis. It takes commitment, determination and above all, politics. You began making the case for linking ecology and socialism many years ago – and now there are others who are starting to do the same. As a place to have open, calm, sensible and informed discussions on Venezuela, Bolivia, Leninism and many other topics, you have made a real contribution. It’s easy to build a political current that is separate from the movements. Easy, and not too helpful. It is much more difficult to embark on the project I have always associated with you folks – building a left political current that is part of a deep engagement with those movements - much more difficult, and much more useful. If we put the movements against exploitation and oppression first, we will discover the parameters within which to build an appropriate, and useful, left political current. Keep it up. I look forward to the one thousand and first, and second, and third...

Terry Fitzpatrick, St Mary's Community in Exile
Some years ago I made the decision to no longer buy the mainstream newspapers. I became tired of the corporate-sponsored propaganda of the Murdoch monopoly. I started reading the Green Left Weekly and was delighted to discover a newspaper independent of the powerful interests that run this country. This paper is a national treasure and should be protected and preserved by all thinking people.

Congratulations GLW on your 1000th issue!

Maire Leadbeater, West Papua Action Auckland and author of Peace, Power and Politics: How New Zealand became Nuclear Free
One of many things we have in common in Australia and New Zealand is the dominance in the mainstream media of major corporate interests such as Fairfax. However, we will learn little from these sources about the important popular struggles for peace and justice and the campaigns against mining, climate change and militarism.

We have to work together if we are to achieve a better world and a future for our grandchildren. Congratulations to Green Left for the important role it plays in keeping us grassroots activists in touch with each other. 1000 issues – that is amazing.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia
For the last two decades, Green Left Weekly has become a valuable and credible source for radical analysis and alternative views, not only for the benefit of the people in Australia but also around the world. GLW, together with its website as well as Green Left TV, have played the role in motivating, inspiring, strengthening and deepening the revolutionary struggles around the world in fighting capitalism and striving for socialism. PSM extends its solidarity and looks forward to more future issues of GLW.

Manarishi Dhital, Editor, Janadesh Weekly and member Board of Directors, Press Council Nepal
I would like to share the words of pleasure I am writing on behalf of socialist and progressive media and journalists in Nepal to Green Left Weekly, as well as Green Left online and Green Left TV. I am pleased to hear that the newspaper established in 1991 with the aim of achieving socialism, and exposing the lies of imperialism and capitalism, is going to publish its 1000th edition. I congratulate GLW, and salute its campaigners, publishers and journalists. I hope GLW marches on for the next 1000 issues.

In 1991, here in Nepal, capitalists and communists were fighting together against the single-party autocracy (Panchayat Regime). The aim of both was to re-establish democracy. At that time, that was a step towards socialism. At the same time, in Australia, where capitalism had developed to its heights, GLW started its journey with the aim of supporting the political view that “socialism is possible”.

Here in Nepal, the rise of bourgeois capitalism has finished, but to clear the way to socialism and march on towards it, we need to overcome several hills and mountains. After the change in 1990, supporters of socialism lacked political and governmental power, mainly due to splits among the communist. At that time, youth possessing remarkable talent, like Prachanda, Dr. Baburam, Kiran and Badal, started a new journey. They strengthened the party and announced the armed struggle, or “Peoples’ War”. With the aim of building the anti-capitalist sentiment and creating an environment for unifying revolutionaries, Janadesh Weekly began publication. The political struggle was accelerated, and the media movement joined it. Janadesh Weekly became a friend in the struggle for the interests of the people. Janadesh personnel proudly joined the war with a pen in the hand and a gun on the shoulder.

In the decade-long war that followed, Janadesh lost its leader and editor, Krishna Sen “Ichhuk”, and several colleagues: the history of revolutionary journalism in Nepal has been a history of sacrifice. When the attacks of the police and army were at their peak we were courageous, and because we were committed to our mission, we got the chance to witness the present scenario.

The history of GLW may not resemble our own, but the people involved with GLW have sacrificed a lot to establish the paper. GLW is helping to strengthen the anti-racist, feminist, student, trade union, environment, gay and lesbian, civil liberties and anti-imperialist movements. The content of the paper is quite remarkable and the Nepalese media should learn from it.

Our Himalayas are witnessing melting snows because of global warming. Capitalists and expansionists have directed their eagle eyes onto our minerals and other natural resources. Our people’s labour is being sold at foreign market and our national wealth is now owned by very few people.

In this scenario, national rights and democracy, along with economic development, are our focus. We campaign for equal participation of marginalised and ethnic groups, women, and gays and lesbians, as well as on other issues. Hundred of thousands of people live below the poverty line, and marginalized and ethnic groups in remote areas still live under darkness. It is the duty of socialists in Nepal to fight for fundamental human rights for them all.

Sadly, the revolutionary parties in Nepal have again split, resulting in the bourgeoisie and fake communists gaining the majority in recent polls. It is a time when the progressive media of Nepal should learn from GLW, because you are unifying socialists and progressive groups in Australia.

We are pleased to witness the progress of GLW, and hope to maintain our regular discussion and discourse with you. We commit our solidarity with the mission of GLW.

Hasib Khan, from Gilgit Baltistan now living in AustraliaGreen Left Weekly is the voice of people which expresses their voice and their feelings. It does not only give voice to the people of Australia but also stands against cruelty anywhere around the world. I congratulate GLW from the bottom of my heart for reaching the 1000th issue.

LatinHub
Thanks to Green Left Weekly, there exists an alternative to the global hegemonic vision. Some will agree with its editorial line, others won’t, but regardless, one has to admit that GLW plays a vital role in ensuring that the exercise of democracy is something deeper and more real than simply voting every three years.

Gerardo Diaz-Henriquez, FMLN Committee in Sydney
The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) Committee in Sydney celebrates with great enthusiasm the publication of Green Left Weekly’s 1000th issue.

At the same time, our committee is celebrating with great enthusiasm the triumph of our party, the FMLN, in El Salvador. We have won the first round of voting in the presidential and vice-presidential elections in El Salvador, and expect to comfortably win the second round scheduled for March 2, 2014.

For us, GLW will continue to be part of the history of the Australian people in their untiring struggle for social justice and for the preservation of humanity’s natural resources.

GLW is part of the struggle of our peoples for a better world, one in harmony with Mother Earth. Our hopes for achieving a more just and lasting society have appeared more than once in its pages.

As long as we have GLW in our hands, the struggle continues and our existence is sustained.

Congratulations GLW for your 1000th issue!

Elena Garcia, sustainable grazier from rural Queensland
Thank you Green Left Weekly for printing the secret news where publicity is gagged, the hidden issues, like the attacks on our fresh water, that are destroying our future without most of us ever hearing about them. Keep up the good job, we need you.

Hall Greenland, environmental & community campaigner, award-winning journalist and convener NSW Greens
As the mainstream media, already blinkered by neoliberal ideology, moves further rightward, Green Left Weekly’s emphasis on reporting ecological and social realities, citizen campaigns, world developments and dangerous ideas is more needed than ever.

Susan Price, National Co-Convenor Socialist Alliance
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly on reaching 1000 issues. This is such an important achievement for a non-profit, radical, weekly news source, relying on readers and activists for support. GLW was one of the first Australian newspapers to publish in full text on the web. It has been a trail-blazer for progressive online publishing in Australia from its beginnings in 1991.

The importance of GLW lies not just in its longevity, but in its role as a voice for the radical movements and as an alternative source of information and analysis to the corporate interests that control the media across the country and internationally.

The struggle for a society based on the needs of people and the planet is richer for the existence of publications like GLW.

John Coleman, activist in the Rail Tram and Bus Union (NSW)
I have distributed Green Left Weekly for many years and wholeheartedly recommend it as a tool to fight oppression in Australia and internationally. Issues such as action to prevent climate change and nationalisation under workers control are worth fighting for to mention only a few. To GLW staff, supporters and readers, congratulations on the 1000th issue!

Dale T McKinley, Johannesburg, South Africa
What an amazing milestone! Not only can Green Left Weekly’s volunteer workers and writers be massively proud of the 1000th issue but so too all those activists in Australia and around the world for whom GLW continues to be an inspiring and catalytic source of alternative media and anti-capitalist struggle. Viva GLW! Forward to another 1000 issues!

Dr Rowan Cahill, Co-author Radical Sydney and Honorary Fellow, Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong
Congratulations on the forthcoming 1000th issue. This is a significant and historic occasion in the history of Australian dissident, alternative, and left publishing. Even though the capitalist media and many historians fail to acknowledge the existence and richness and robustness of this tradition, it does exist, and has existed since its origins during the second half of the 19th century, and has played a huge role in the shaping of Australian radical, socialist, and left culture and politics.

Ogaden National Liberation Front
The Ogaden National Liberation Front sends its congratulations for the 1000th issue of the Green Left Weeklynewspaper. In a world news that is an exclusive monopoly of a few who are hell bent on denying rights of the masses in sham democracies and their client dictators in the developing world, an independent voice of the masses is a free breath of air.

We stand in solidarity with all the oppressed masses of the world. We are fighting colonialism and injustice and suppression of the masses through force and deceit.

Victory to the progressives!
Victory to the masses!

Romayne Phoenix, Chair of Coalition of Resistance, now supporting the People's Assembly
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly as you reach your 1000th edition. Your commitment to progressive international politics helps to inform and empower us all, bringing campaigners together so that we can see our struggles as part of a global endeavour to achieve human and civil rights, global peace and environmental sustainability, democracy and equality. We value your online contribution as a reliable source of real news as we battle against the myths and distractions in our mass media. We wish you all the best in your continuing work, your Green Left TV broadcasts and the next 1000 editions of GLW.

Helmuth Markov, Die Linke (Left Party) Brandenburg
Left ideas need a publication, in Germany, Europe, America, Australia and around the world. Neoliberal globalisation needs global answers from the left. For the Left Party in Germany the socio-ecological transformation of society is of central importance. This connects us with our friends in Australia and elsewhere.

Patricia Corowa, Saltwater Murroona Woman of the Sovereign Ancient Nation of Djiru
Congratulations Green Left Weekly. That’s an exemplary achievement. One thousand issues of independent media through the sterling solid work of volunteers! Regardless of which political party is running the country, anywhere in the world, GLW educates, agitates and organizes the community with word on direct action in campaigns that focus on resistance to injustice, and on upholding dignity where there is discrimination. I am proud to be associated with GLW, primarily as a reader and supporter. GLW reports on the real issues that concern decent people, where mainstream media is either complicit with the government of the day or under-performs in the news it presents.

Nick Deane, peace activist
Here's to the next 1000 editions! Thank you Green Left for providing a forum where people really can raise and discuss radical ideas. Keep it going. We need you!

Lionel Bopage, a former General Secretary of the Peoples Liberation Front (JVP) of Sri Lanka
On this great occasion of achieving 1,000 edition landmark of Green Left Weekly, please accept our sincere fraternal greetings. Profound thanks are also due to the staff and the many activists who produce and distribute it. It is a milestone of raising political awareness of the wider population and in supporting just struggles of the masses the world over.

GLW provides a progressive and objective analysis of local and international events challenging the retrogressive and subjective views and manufactured news propagated by the bourgeois-led or controlled mass media. Its support to the struggles of the people against neoliberalism, fundamentalism, racism, sexism and chauvinism has been principled and based on an international perspective.

This impressive milestone is achieved through the selfless commitment and dedication of several comrades utilising the limited resources they have and the support of countless others, who value the progressive politics and activism the GLW represents.

We take this opportunity to express our revolutionary gratitude for GLW’s campaigns of solidarity in support of the peoples' right to self-determination in many parts of the world, and also in support of the struggles of the people of Lanka. Progressive and democratically thinking people of the world need to support GLW so that it can continue its principled stand, campaigns and many struggles. In reciprocity of its fine work, we need to continue to support GLW in its struggle to build a better world for its inhabitants!

Robert Graham, Canada
Just wanted to send congrats from Canada on your 1000th issue.

I remember going to the Democratic Socialist Party conference from Perth as a young uni student and being so excited by the energy in the room when we launched the paper. I even ponied up for some shares! (I wonder how much they are worth now? - LOL)

I got involved with Resistance and the DSP towards the end of the Direct Action days and I remembered thinking it was a great idea to broaden the appeal and breadth of that paper – I guess 1000 issues later – it did indeed prove to be the right decision!

I remember selling the first issue on the streets of Perth, I remember writing for subsequent issues. Man, I feel old all of a sudden...

Seriously I have nothing but respect and admiration for those who supported GLW and those who still do. It is a monumental achievement to reach 1000 issues. Simply amazing!

The issues it covers are even more relevant today - and I wish you all continued success.

Thank you for all the love, hard work and solidarity that has gone into this wonderful newspaper. I left Australia in 2001 and still miss getting it every week.

Please get in touch if any of you make it to Toronto. We can go out partying with Rob Ford...

All the best!

Perry Keyes, song writer and musician
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly – kicking out the jams and letting us know for 1000 issues.

John Gauci, Secretary of NSW Inner City Teachers Association and musician

Green Left Weekly is far more than a newspaper. It is an ideological weapon to defend our class against the attacks of the 1%. Through it we educate, organise and analyse our struggle. GLW is internationalist, collaborative and proudly working class. Thank you GLW for 1,000 issues of resistance to greed, division and oppression. Your work is truly inspiring.

Rev Chris Bedding, rector Anglican Parish of Darlington-Bellevue
Congratulations on reaching this milestone! In an era where the default position for Christians is conservative, I’m proud to stand in the tradition of Martin Luther King, William Wilberforce and Mary Mackillop. My faith compels me to support just working conditions, marriage equality, environmental care and freedom for oppressed people. I believe that people of all faiths and none can work together for the common good. Thank you to the Green Left Weekly for sustaining that vision of justice and equality for all.

Wendy Bacon, Professorial Fellow, UTS and contributing editor to New Matilda
I congratulate Green Left Weekly on reaching the 1,000 edition milestone. As a reader and as a journalist who has spent much of my life working outside mainstream media, I know how hard it can be to keep regular progressive media publishing. I often suggested to my UTS students, read GLW because it is often ahead of the mainstream agenda. You speak into corporate and government silences and give a voice to those who are marginalised. GLW was never more needed and deserving of support than now. Good luck for your next 1000 editions.

Rob Pyne, Cairns regional councillor
Well done to all involved over the years who helped reach this significant milestone! I make a special mention of Jonathan Strauss who has been a strong advocate for GLW up here in the tropical north. Keep up the hard work for change, as the alternative is no alternative!

Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon
Congratulations to the Green Left Weekly team on reaching the milestone of 1,000 editions. This is a huge achievement in terms of sheer effort, resilience and most importantly, independent reporting.

To maintain regular production of a socialist newspaper in Australia is vital and the fact that GLW have achieved this is a credit to their production team and the many activists and journalists who keep their stories and commentaries rolling in.

The Australian left has been through many turbulent times since GLW kicked off in 1991. GLW has continued with quality reporting so critical to our campaigns for social justice and environmental protection.

With the growing dominance of the right wing Murdoch media empire and the destructive agendas of the Abbott and state Coalition governments, the strength and reach of your reporting becomes all the more important.

Keep your voice loud and the presses running.

John Pilger, award-winning journalist and filmmaker

Congratulations once again to Green Left Weekly. As I've often said to people all over the world when they ask what the press is like in Australia, "Mostly owned by Murdoch and mostly unfree."

But I always add quickly, "There is one newspaper that is independent of powerful interests and that's Green Left Weekly".

Those of you who produce Green Left Weekly should never regard yourselves as on the margins. In fact, you are the true mainstream – the keepers of an Australian tradition of truthful, people's journalism that goes back to the Sydney Monitor in the 19th century and other independent voices that spoke against undemocratic power in all its forms.

This independence is the essence of press freedom. So again, congratulations to all of you who produce and support Australia's proud independent newspaper.

Derek Wall, International Coordinator of the Green Party of England and WalesGreen Left Weekly is the best ecosocialist publication in the world. Back in the 19th century Marx and Engels put ecology at the centre of their politics but the left, both revolutionary and reformist, often forgot the environment in the 20th. GLW helps restore a politics which is red and green and focused on practical action'

Ian Angus, editor of Climate & Capitalism
For over two decades, Green Left Weekly has set the standard for radical journalism. It's an invaluable resource, not only for the Australian left, but for ecosocialists around the world. GLW's clear and principled political reporting is a model that revolutionaries everywhere hope to emulate. Congratulations on this important milestone: Hasta la victoria siempre!

Sam Watson, Murri leader and Socialist Alliance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights spokespersonGLW is the last, final bastion of free political speech and thought in this country and it must be defended and supported. Stay strong GLW!! The true voice of the struggle!!

Party of the Labouring Masses, Philippines
We congratulate you on achieving this tremendous feat of having reached your 1000th anniversary. As revolutionaries we struggle on many fronts. Trying to put out effective propaganda is one of them. We recognise your achievements in continuing to publish and distribute an invaluable and excellent quality paper. We salute your journalists and the GLW sellers who take to the streets with this commitment every week.

We would also like to use this opportunity to thank GLW for the support and solidarity we received for our relief efforts during the typhoon Yoland/Haiyan disaster.

GLW responded immediately in solidarity with us and brought our efforts to the attention of the international progressive movement. GLW reported the truth about the reality on the ground: the complete and utter devastation; the incompetence of the Philippine government to provide the necessary assistance, and; our struggle against these odds to respond to the needs of the affected communities.

Comrades in the Philippines were heartened by your solidarity and it helped our relief efforts in very immediate and practical ways.
Mabuhay!

David Cromwell, co-editor, Media Lens
Congratulations to GLW on its 1000th edition. It’s vital that incessant state-corporate propaganda is exposed and resisted, and that so-called "alternative" media thrive instead. Roll on the next 1000 issues of GLW!

Dave Kerin, Project Organiser, Earthworker CooperativeGreen Left Weekly has been the only newspaper on the left in Australia to offer support so far to Earthworker Cooperative. Our 16-year-long struggle is now bearing fruit, where a recent deal with Australian-owned Reece will see us manufacture our Solar Ready system into their Thurmann range.

Our cooperative, worker-owned product will become available from March 1. This starts to provide the jobs we need as we begin our primary work, starting as you read this, at Victoria University in Melbourne, among rank and file unionists who choose our worker-owned products as part of their wage increase, through their union-negotiated Enterprise Agreement. GLW will continue to cover our story, as we traverse this new terrain for workers in Australia. Thank you to the staff at GLW.

Tamara Pearson, Journalist for Venezuelanalysis.com
Comrades, your perseverance so far with Green Left Weekly is inspiring. It's an upward battle you're waging, against the overwhelming distortions and lies printed by the private press, with little resources. You print the news that matters, and it’s contextualised, and you deserve to celebrate that. Abrazos.

Jepke Goudsmit & Graham Jones, co-directors Kinetic Energy Theatre Company
Congratulations with the 1000th issue. A fantastic achievement, both inspired and inspiring. In a time when so many facts are withheld or manipulated to suit the powers that be, it is of vital importance to have a democratic channel and forum for true fact-finding, discourse and investigation like Green Left Weekly. Thank you for this great work and for the new initiatives, such as the online version. Keep it up!

Munkimuk, MC and Koori Radio presenter
Congrats to all the mob at Green Left Weekly for 1000 issues. It really is the only place to find some truth in a mainstream media environment owned by one entity. Thanks for the voice of reason and cannot wait to see another 1000 issues!

Lourdes García Larqué, Accent of Women producer and 3CR community radio broadcaster
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly on the publication of its 1000 issue!

Green Left does fantastic work in bringing ideas and information about topics that are of political, social, environmental and cultural relevance to everyone in Australia, but that mainstream media does not address, or does so in a very distorted way to preserve the status quo. I really enjoy the international coverage, which brings to my attention stories about struggles around the world.

The coverage and discussions about the transformations in Latin America are particularly valuable. The Spanish language insert from the Latin American Forum is also a fantastic contribution that the Latin American community really appreciates. Congratulations, and I look forward to the next thousand editions!

Peter Perkins, Assistant National Secretary Rail Operations, Rail Tram and Bus Union
To all those involved down through the ages in the production of Green Left Weekly, congratulations in reaching this historical milestone achieved through dedicated hard work.

GLW is important to working people around the world because it is more than a journalistic tabloid. It is the link to real struggles at ground level from activists on the front lines.

Instead of manufactured news we hear the stories of people with a realistic view about the predicament of humanity and the kind future that they want to create. GLW also leads the debate in this country about the kind future that we will eventually collectively need to create.

When the mainstream media diverts and subverts the general population to a view purely serving the rich elites (the 1%) and now charges for the privilege, it becomes duty to report the truth in a way that does not distort reality. It is important to have a conduit for dissent that is historically linked to those whose vision is revolutionary, yet necessary.

Long live the struggle! Long live Green Left Weekly!

Haskell, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
I wish to send my message of support and congratulations for the 1000th edition of Green left Weekly from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. After more than a year in Africa, I am immensely grateful to be able to read GLW online but somewhat sad to not be reading the hard copy.

I have not been able to find any journal of the focus and quality of GLW in Southern or East Africa. GLW gives me great in-depth analyses of international events as well as keeping me up to date on the struggles and campaigns in Australia.

John Rainford, Wollongong
Congratulations to the dedicated staff at Green Left Weekly. One thousand issues of radical journalism that is an invaluable asset for us on the South Coast committed to the tradition of Radical Wollongong.

Ben Iota, rapper
Thank you Green Left Weekly for being a relentless voice of progressive, critical thought. I look forward to many more compelling reads.

Provocalz, rapper
A paper for the people, not the machine. Much respect to Green Left Weekly for the hard work they put into getting the truth out there to the masses and keeping the balance against the mainstream media zombies. Viva GLW.

Will Duckworth, deputy leader Green Party of England and Wales and Green Left member
Congratulations! The 1000th edition is a great milestone for Green Left Weekly in Australia and an inspiration to ecosocialists the other side of the world.

Paul Kaplan, veteran activist
Massive congrats on your 1000th issue! In racist reactionary right wing Western Australia, Green Left Weekly plays such a vital role in informing and supporting the left in its struggles and campaigns.

Latin America Social Forum
On the occasion of publishing the 1000th issue of Green Left Weekly – the voice for workers, Aboriginal peoples, students and leftist movements in Australia and Latin America – the Latin America Social Forum (Sydney) sends fraternal and revolutionary greetings to the entire editorial team.

This team has ensured the maintenance of a media source opposed to the Australian capitalist system which finances and controls a mass media dedicated to distorting the reality of the class struggle with the aim of leading workers towards consumerist alienation and distracting them from the tasks of uniting and organising to reach the goal of socialism, the only system based on peace, justice and meeting the basic human needs of all.

Congratulations GLW, the struggle for objective reporting committed to the cause of socialism belongs to all of us.

Euskal Herria, SORTU socialist party in Basque
From SORTU, party of left supporters of Basque sovereignty, we would like to congratulate Green Left Weekly, on its 1000 issues published to date. A long journey, during which it has provided a truthful coverage of world events.

We would like to express our thanks for the attention your publication has paid to news from Euskal Herria (the Basque Country), especially to the events of recent years, which have created a new political situation in our country and are bringing us closer to achieving a just and lasting peace.

We in Sortu aspire to bring about a free, left-wing Basque Country. Along that road we would like to continue to count on friends like those from Green Left Weekly, reporting the Basque Country situation to the world and point of reference for Basques in order to find out what is happening in Australia from a left perspective.

Long live Green Left Weekly!

Angeline Loh, Malaysia human rights advocate and researcher
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly, on your 1000th issue! This is a milestone marking the persistence, perseverance and determination to be a truly decisive voice in Australian society dispensing with the "need" to be "economical with the truth". Do continue your good work in telling it as it is, bringing up issues and problems impacting the most vulnerable and marginalised in society. A truly enlightening read. Keep up the trail blazing! All the best for the future.

Stephen Langford
Beside "Democracy Now" and the songs of David Rovics, we rely on Green Left Weekly for information and inspiration. Best wishes for another 1000 great issues. Bravo!

Vivien Langford BZE Radio Team at 3CR
Heartfelt thanks to Green Left Weekly for its relentless coverage of climate change. Simon Butler, Renfrey Clarke and many others, you keep it front and centre while other media buries it with their heads in the sand.

I have been alerted to many stories by GLW. They have flowed into the Beyond Zero Emissions community radio show so thanks a million. Tune in at 5pm every Monday to radio 3CR . http://www.3cr.org.au/3CR_streaming

Nat Lowrey, Australia and international mining campaigner
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly for reaching 1000 editions! In a time when Australia's media stands out internationally for its extreme pluralism with both corporate led News Limited and Fairfax holding over 88% of the print media assets, the need for independent papers like GLW to provide other voices to Australians has never been more important. GLW fights the powerful Australian press oligopoly everyday. Their paper gives a voice to some of the most important stories we just don't get in the mainstream papers including environmental, social justice, indigenous rights and workers news. Lets help GLW get to another 1000 editions, show your support and donate to their fund appeal. https://www.greenleft.org.au/donate/details

Global Bersih, Malaysia
Global Bersih congratulates Green Left Weekly on this historic milestone. Its editorial independence and fearless reportage are crucial in Australia, where diversity in journalism and media ownership is sadly lacking.

Abroad, Malaysians are very grateful for the GLW's unhesitating willingness to shine the public light on how Australian businesses continue to inflict environmental vandalism on their home country, as well as the political corruption that lives and thrives only because of the democratic deficit there.

We wish GLW and its editorial team the strength and will to continue their tradition of giving voice to the disenfranchised for many years to come.

Reg Dare
When Green Left Weekly began, my mum loved taking the "space age" train from Town Hall to her job at Ultimo. Twenty plus years later I guard the outside of a building making sure the homeless people don't return, while watching the monorail track being taken down. The future didn't turn out the way we thought it would.

We have the materials, knowledge and technology to fix so many problems, yet the powers that be seem to have failed in so many ways. It always comes down to money or the economy. There has to be a better way to do things.

That's why GLW is so important, to highlight what we could be, what we could do. When enough people think the same way, it will happen. GLW - Live long and prosper!

Vivienne Porzsolt, Jews Against the Occupation, Sydney
It is a great pleasure to congratulate Green Left Weekly on this important milestone of 1000 issues. Green Left began publishing just as I migrated to Australia and since then it has accompanied me on my Australian journey. It has always been an essential beacon of hope and enlightenment against the arch-capitalist MurdokMedia. Great longevity, sumud as the Palestinians would say. On to the next 1000 issues!

Mirza Abdul Salam
Hearty congratulations to the Green Left Weekly team on reaching a remarkable milestone of 1,000 edition. This great achievement would only was possible due to sheer hard work and effective reporting. being an independent Australian news which provides left-wing analysis GLW has being extraordinarily true to its work. GLW has always been there for refugees, workers right, women's right and other great community orientated work. I would like to congratulate GLW and I would hope it will prosper and rise to even greater heights in years to come.

Steph Price, Ben Hillier and Corey Oakley – editors, Red Flag
Congratulations to Green Left Weekly and to everyone involved in its production over the last two decades. One thousand issues is a real achievement. We look forward to collaboration between our respective papers, and the building of a bigger left, in the months and years ahead.

Max Phillips, Greens Councillor, Marrickville CouncilGreen Left is important for putting a radical view and covering issues and angles other media ignore. It is an impressive publication given the resources available and one thousand issues is an incredible effort. Congratulations to all those involved over the years and in advance for those who will carry it forward.

Support glw

"Congratulations once again to Green Left Weekly. As I've often said to people all over the world when they ask what the press is like in Australia, 'Mostly owned by Murdoch and mostly unfree'. But I always add quickly, 'There is one newspaper that is independent of powerful interests and that's Green Left Weekly'."
John Pilger

about GLW - the need for alternative media

In these days of growing media concentration, Green Left Weekly is a proudly independent voice committed to human and civil rights, global peace and environmental sustainability, democracy and equality. By printing the news and ideas the mainstream media won't, Green Left Weekly exposes the lies and distortions of the power brokers and helps us to better understand the world around us.

Green Left Weekly, launched in 1990 by progressive activists to present the views excluded by the big business media, is now Australia's leading source of local, national and international news, analysis, and discussion and debate to strengthen the anti-capitalist movements.